


Rain on Me

by applecurry



Series: Rain on Me [1]
Category: Echo (Visual Novel 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, As if that wasn't obvious, Except Sydney, Flynn forgives Chase, Hurt/Comfort, I mean it's pretty happy but Flynn is still possessed so, M/M, Post Flynn route, Spoilers, Suicidal Thoughts, but we don't have to talk about that, happy-ish ending, sorry sweetie :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24695632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/applecurry/pseuds/applecurry
Summary: After surviving the night of hysteria. Flynn and Chase have a conversation about what the future holds for them.
Relationships: Flynn Moore & Chase Hunter, Flynn Moore/Chase Hunter
Series: Rain on Me [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799302
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Rain on Me

**Author's Note:**

> Flynn's route twisted a knife in my gut so I wanted to write something where he and Chase end on a good note but, yknow, without ignoring the fact that Chase killed Sydney. So in this AU everything after they crashed into the lake didn't happen, and Chase unambiguously remembers killing Sydney and being possessed and admits to both.
> 
> Also, I am in fact shameless Chaynn trash but you can also read this as purely platonic if you want. We can't all have massive brains, after all. 
> 
> Enjoy!

This is not what I wanted.

That was all he could think as he stared at Chase’s sleeping form, curled up in a fetal position on the bed opposite to his. After their failed attempt to escape the town, the group had decided to hunker down in Chase, TJ and Jenna’s motel bedroom. It was now morning and they hadn’t been killed in their sleep by... whatever the fuck that thing was. Flynn wasn't dumb enough to think they were "safe", but he did find a childish sort of comfort in the soft rays of light filtering through the motel's windows, as if sunrise had dispelled the boogeymen going after them. Not that he'd ever admit it.

Either way, the events of last night are a distant concern compared to what he has to face right now. It doesn’t seem like Chase’s life is in danger anymore, but the ocasional groan and whimper coming from under the dingy bed covers lets him know he hasn’t fully recovered from the black widow poison.

**_Does it cause you pain to see him like this?_ **

Absolutely not.

Maybe a little.

I mean, this *is* what he deserves, isn’t it? He fucking killed Syd and everything went to shit because of his lying ass. This is good. This is justice.

So why doesn’t it feel like it, dammit.

For one thing, he can no longer deny that there's something extremely fucking wrong with the town. As much as he’d like to throttle Chase or let him rot in a prison cell for the rest of his life for what he did he was too perceptive to ignore how he seemed like a completely different person after the spider incident. Like the little shit that lead him on this whole week is gone and now he’s finally back to his "true self". But who is the "true" Chase? Did he ever truly know Chase? Did any of them? Who is this person in front of him, a lost childhood friend or a complete fucking stranger? Chase had been acting off for a long time, but everyone else in the group either didn't see it or refused to acknowledge it, and Flynn wasn't about to bring it up and have them accuse him of being a conspiracy theorist again. Those empty thousand-yard stares Chase would get that reminded him so much of... 

**_Of who?_ **

That’s right. This has happened before, hasn’t it? It's very similar to how Syd was during those last 6 months. At the time, Flynn wanted to blame it on stress or depression or something, but now, after everything he's witnessed, he can't discard the possibility that it was something far more insidious. An... entity or a ghost or whatever you want to fucking call it taking control of his actions.

...Is that why Chase killed him?

That’s not fucking fair. That wasn’t Syd, that was some... thing wearing his skin and making him do all that awful cruel shit. Chase had no right.

But then... he guessed he had no right either.

Chase squirmed a little. The otter certainly didn't look like a manipulative mastermind at this very second. God, the black widow bites on his neck looked nasty, they’d scar for sure. Flynn hesitantly reached out his hand and

**_Break his neck._ **

He didn’t have time to think about the sudden ringing in his ears and the mild but insistent migraine, because at that moment Chase started opening his eyes. Flynn pulled back his hand as if he'd touched a hot stove.

“F... Flynn?” He said, barely louder than a whisper, while gazing at the lizard through bleary, half-lidded eyes.

He looked... miserable. His eyes were bloodshot, his body was covered in spider bites, and he didn’t have the energy to take a bath last night so the whole room stunk of otter sauna.

Wait, he’s expecting a response. Right.

“Uh... ‘sup.” Real smooth, Flynn.

The otter sat up with some difficulty. He looked like he was about to say something before he was interrupted by his own wet, violent coughing. Before he could think better of it, Flynn laid a comforting palm between the otter’s shoulder blades.

“Shit, you okay?”

“W...w-water.” He croaked.

“Right, one second” He got up and walked to the bathroom. The lizard didn’t really feel like sorting through their pigsty of a room for a proper glass, so he simply dumped the contents of one of their toothbrush holder cups and filled it with water from the tap.

Chase was enraptured by the drywall to his left when Flynn returned to the room. The lizard sat back down on the bed across from Chase’s and handed him the cup. Chase took it gratefully and made a noise that sounded sort of like "Thanks", but Flynn couldn't tell for sure because his throat currently sounded like he'd swallowed molasses and rocks. As he took greedy gulps, Flynn noticed a smile tugging at the corners of Chase's lips.

“Somethin’ funny?” He didn’t mean it to sound menacing but he didn’t particularly care to soften his tone either.

Chase didn’t seem bothered, however. “It’s just... I think this is the first time I’ve asked you to hand me something without you telling me to go fuck myself or throwing it at my face.”

Flynn tried not to let his face show his astonishment at the attempt at normal chit-chat, as if there was anything remotely normal about this situation. He recovered quickly, though. “Don’t go getting used to it, I’m not your fucking maid.”

Chase took a sip. “I dunno, I figured one of those dudes at that bar you like already had you roleplay as one.”

...

This cheeky bitch.

“First of all, that’s Carl’s kink, not mine. Second of all, go fuck yourself.” There was no bite to it.

“If you change your mind, I’m sure I can get Jenna to lend you something from one of those conventions she goes to.” Chase looked positively giddy, the fucker.

They sat still for a minute, with the tension in the atmosphere being far from gone but slightly more bearable, until Chase broke the silence. “Where are all the others?”

“Leo, Carl and Dax said they’d check out the town to see if everything’s still tits up. TJ went on a morning jog with Jenna.” Probably to take his mind off things, who can blame him.

“Why did you stay?”

Flynn let the silence stretch out for a bit longer. “Someone had to make sure you wouldn’t try to escape.”

Chase had the audacity to look hurt at that. “...Oh.” He looked down at his cump and the hurt in the otter’s eyes was replaced by something that Flynn couldn’t quite place but that looked an awful lot like... resignation?

Well, so much for pleasant conversation. Might as well get it out of the way now.

Flynn leaned forward with his hands resting on his knees, like a boxer waiting for the ring of the bell. “You already told me all that shit about being possessed, and you know what, fine, maybe I’m starting to believe it now.” Partly because it might be happening to me now, he doesn’t say. “So what I want to know is...” He tightened the grip on his knees. “...When you killed Sydney, who was that.”

Chase lifted his gaze from the now empty cup in his hands. “It’s... It’s complicated, okay? It’s not like having someone piloting your body or whatever. At most I’d do something weird and I'd only notice how weird and uncharacteristic it was after the fact, but never in all these years did I suspect that something was making my decisions for me.”

That did sound vaguely familiar. He didn't think he'd rat Chase out to the townspeople, even after finding out what he did, but that didn’t stop the words that started pouring out of his mouth.

**_Traitors belong with each other._ **

“So to answer your question, I... I genuinely don’t know, Flynn. I don’t know if it had already gotten hold of me when I killed Sydney or if it only started afterwards.” Chase looked like he was about to cry. Don't fall for it. “I know it’s not the answer you want... but what I'm one hundred percent sure of is that that at the time I really did think Sydney was trying to kill Toby. I didn’t like Sydney, you know that, but that wasn’t the reason I... did that to him.” 

Flynn tried to keep calm as he looked directly at Chase. “So you saw him drowning TJ, and your first instinct wasn’t to just separate them? Calling for help? Literally anything else?”

“I... I was a kid, we-“

Flynn raised his voice as Chase tried to retreat further into the matress. “Syd was a kid too. He was a kid and he’s dead because you fucking murdered him.”

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to believe me about anything else, but please believe that I’m s-“

“Stop it. Don’t even fucking start. You know what I think about apologies and where you can shove them.” He was full on yelling now.

They stayed like that for a moment, Chase looking unsure of what to say. God, Flynn wanted a fucking smoke. Disgusting as it is, maybe lard-ass had the right idea with trying to numb himself to everything around him. The chirping of the birds outside are giving him a headache and Chase isn't fucking saying anything. The lizard was about to chew him out again before Chase opened his mouth.

“You’re right. Nothing I say is going to make it up to you. To all of you.” The words staggered out of his mouth, and he had that weird look on his face again. “So... you can do whatever you want.”

Huh?

“The fuck are you talking about?”

“Turn me in to the police, let the townspeople lynch me. Hell, at this point you could kill me yourself and I wouldn’t try to stop you.” He recognized that look now. It was the same expression Carl had right after he'd swallowed a bunch of his parents's benzos and Flynn had to force him to vomit them. 

Flynn was feeling sick all of a sudden.

“I’m not doing any of that shit, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

Chase was looking at him now. He almost looked disappointed and Flynn was definitely going to be sick. “Why?”

He thought. He thought real hard.

“I’m... tired.”

Chase stared at Flynn, waiting for him to keep going. He’s really not making this easy. 

“I’m tired.” He continued. “I’m tired of losing friends. I’m sick of it.”

Chase just kept staring. Jesus christ is he possessed again. Maybe we should have left him behind after all. That train of thought ended pretty quickly when he noticed the moisture gathering under Chase’s eyes.

“You still consider me a friend?”

Flynn dodged the question. “All I wanted was the truth. And now that I know the ‘truth’, I’m realizing that there’s a thousand more questions that I’ll never have an answer to.” He made a mental note not to fucking look at Chase in the eyes right now. “What I know for sure is that Syd didn’t deserve that. None of us deserve any of this shit, and that happens to include you.”

Flynn let out a sigh, feeling like he'd said his piece “So there. I’m not going to kill you or whatever sick shit is going through your head.” He hesitated for a moment. “And... I don’t hate you.”

Chase wiped his eyes with his forearm, the tears flowing freely now. “Heh, that has to be nicest thing you’ve said about anyone.”

“Don’t try it, muskshit.“

“Guess it’s still too soon for a hug?”

“Unless you want me to knock all the teeth off your mouth.”

The otter chuckled at that, and this time Flynn couldn’t help the smile tugging at his own mouth.

Their friend group might be irreparably broken now, and this doesn’t even begin to fix it. 

But it’s a start.


End file.
